Do You Use The Word “Mayn’t” or Are You Not a Well Read Scholar?

If you’re a listener of the Buddy Book Club podcast you’ll have noticed that the word “mayn’t” comes up quite often. You’re reading this post, so you’re likely a person of high intellect, moral integrity, and also quite attractive. So we don’t need to explain it to you. However, there are some in our society that mayn’t get a chance to read this post and need an explanation. ‘Mayn’t’ is the most underutilized of contractions, and one that you should add to your lexicon.

 

Historically speaking it is actually a word that used to be used quite often:

Many standard dictionaries still have entries for “mayn’t,” the contraction of “may not,” but it’s rarely heard now in British English and it’s virtually nonexistent in American English. The Oxford English Dictionary, an etymological dictionary based on historical evidence, says “mayn’t is rare in all varieties of English.” Suzanne Romaine, writing in The Cambridge History of the English Language (1992), says the contraction “moved from colloquial normality to great rarity in the course of the twentieth century.”

Here at the Buddy Book Club we are making sure that ‘mayn’t’ does not go quietly into the night. It will not vanish without a fight. Mayn’t is going to live on, it is going to survive! But how does one use mayn’t in regular conversation?

Want to spruce up an important work email? Sorry boss I mayn’t be in the office until later, I may or mayn’t have drank a myriad of beers last night.

Looking to impress that girl/guy on a date? I mayn’t have a job, a car, or a house, but ask me why I insist on using mayn’t and what my favorite podcast is (it’s Buddy Book Club).

Looking for an easy way to reverse a marriage? Just grab a minister and play the reverse card.  By the power vested in me, I now denounce you husband and wife. You mayn’t now kiss the bride.

Yeah these aren’t great or particularly funny, but for more hot tips and ways to improve your vocabulary, check out the latest BBC episodes whilst you’re here.